Grade line finder



Feb. 20, 1940. P. L. FOLE 2,190,779

GRADE LINE FINDER Filed May 26, 1939 2 Sheets-$heet 1 IO I9 20 39 I4 H I3. 29 3| I2 FIG. I

lnvenfor Attorneys Feb. 20, 1940. P. FOGLE 2,190,779

GRADE LINE FINDER Filed May 26, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invn'ror Pearl L. Fag/e Attorneys UNITED STATES Patented Feb. 20, 1940 PATENT OFFICE This application, is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described and claimed, if patented, may be manufacturedand used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the thereon.

This invention relates to the art of establishpayment to me of any royalty ing or tracing lines out on constant elevations, known as contour lines, as well as lines of a con- 1 stant inclination or declination known as grade lines. 15 The problem of providing a cheap and inexbecome a problem of the first importance in View of the growing practice in farming to plow and otherwise treatcultivatable lands with reference to contour lines. The means for laying out such lines heretofore known involved expensivelabor and apparatus, and in addition thereto no satisfactory means were known by which a vehicle could be automatically steered in tracing out a contourlinewithout the intervention of the opindicating changes in declination, require the op ratorto keep a constant check'on an indi-,

ca'torand to steer the vehicle in accordance with the changes noted and hisjudgment of the land 30 immediately ahead of the vehicle. In the present invention there is provided a simple and in expensivemechanical device which can be operated by a single person, which automatically traces out a path of predetermined gradient and,

35 has "facilities" for marking its path of travel to indicate the desired line. i

, This invention, however, is not restricted to use in farming but is applicable in any situation where it is necessary to determine or retrace con- 40 tour lines such as in establishing drainage sys- $61115, irrigation systems, mapping 0r surveying,

and so forth.

The following description, considered together 50 Figure 1 is a side elevational view of this init vention in one of its forms. s

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

,Figure 4 is a side elevational'view of another,

pensive device for tracing out contour lines has,

erator. some means, while providing means for amended April 30, 1928 370 0. G. 757) and the preferred, embodiment of, my invention, partly'in section.

q Figure 5 is a section along the line 5 5 of Figure 4. i r ,Referring with more particularity to Figures 5 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the numeral 50 designates horizontal'frame members of a bicyclic vehicle having a front wheel I l and a rear wheel "l2, each mounted on fork shafts i3 and M, re- L spectively, said shaftsbeing rotatably mounted f in suitable crown bearings l5 and I6, respectively, of the frame in. Therear fork shaft l4 extends through its bearing 16 and is provided with handle bars l7.

also extends upwardly throughits crown bear- The front fork shaftl3 ing l5and is provided with a steering bar it secured to it perpendicular to the plane of the wheel l l. Secured to the horizontal frame members lfl'are two lateral pairs of vertical frame I members l9, l9,hand 20, 20 between the two ends of the vehicle, substantially as shown. Between each lateral pair of these vertical frame members l9, H9, at pi irof rollers 2l,2i,and 22, 22, respectively, is rotatably mounted in vertical alignment, with sufficient space between each pair tdpermit the entrance and free movement of draglinks 23 and 2 4. l The drag links 23 andz l are parallel and extend toward the front of the vehicle, being bent upward and-outwardly from the center'in opposite directions, substantially, as v shown, terminating in horizontal alignment with the steering bar H3. The drag link 23 is connected to one end of thebar 18 by means or" a link 25, pin-connected at each end. A similar link 28 connects the drag link 24 to, the other end of the bar l8 and in the same manner.

drag link 23 opposite the slot 21. The two slots together forma rectangular aperture through which a vertical lever 29 is disposed. The lever 29 extends downward, at the end of which'is attached a pendulum weight 30. A pair of cross bars 31, 31 'are longitudinally secured to the vertical frame members l9, l9, andiii, 20 straddling the vertical lever 29. Said cross bars 3 I, 3!

act as pivotal support for the lever 28, the lever 29 itself being secured to a shaft 32 rotatably mounted in pivotpoint bearings 33, 33 in said cross bar members 3|, 3i. tached to the frame of the vehicle, substantially A hopper 3 3 is atas'shown, and is connected to a vertical discharge tube 35 terminating at a point slightly above the ground lines-10f the vehicle. An agitator 361 is 29 is engaged with the left-hand drag link. If

of the bar 42 to engage with a stud 44 to hold the bar E2 in a horizontal position acrosssaid slots.

By these means the vertical lever 29 can be made to engage either with the drag link 23 or 24,

which engagement is accomplished by lifting the or to the left into one of the open slots 21 and 28, as the case may be, and returning the member 42 to its original horizontal.position,engaging the stud 44. The operation of theabove-described embodi ment of this invention is as follows: The vertical link is placed in engagement with eitherthe drag link 23 or 24 depending upon the slope ofthe land to be traversed. That is, ifthe vehicle'is to operate on a left-hand upward slope, the'lever "the slope is upwardly to the right, the lever. 29

f to

cross bars 33, 3t.

should be engaged with the'right-hand drag link 2 sired elevation on thesiope, takeshold of the handle bars ll, and keeping the vehicle in. a vertical position pushes it forward taking care that the rear wheel 12 follows in the tracks of the front wheel H. As the vehicle moves along the ground, any difference in elevation between the front and rear wheels will cause a corresponding change in the angle between the lever 29 and the This angular difference has the effect of throwing the upper part of the lever 25% either forward or rearward, whichin turn actuates thedrag link 23 or 24. as the case may be, directing the vehicle to the right or to the left. If the vehicle is on a left-hand upward slope and the elevation of the front part'ofthe vehiclebe comes less than that of the rear wheel, the.

pendulum weight 33 is relatively thrown forward by virtue of which the lever 29 forces the link 24 rearward, thus turning the front wheel I l to the right, which would be. in an upward direction,

- thus raising the wheel I! l to the same elevation as the wheel l2. Conversely,- if the wheel II assumes an elevation higher than the wheel l2, the weight 36 is thrown backward relatively, therebis urging the'drag link 24 forward, turning the wheel ii to the left and downward untilv it as sumes the same elevation as the wheel l2.

7 When the vehicle is operating on a left-hand upward slope with the lever 29 engaged with the drag link 23, the same effect is accomplished. Consequentlyybloth wheels of the vehicle being first set at a desired elevation, the vehicle will automatically maintain substantially that elevation as long as the operator guides the rear'wheel l2 in the track made by the front wheel I l. The hopper M is filled with a material, such as lime, for marking and as the vehicle moves forward the agitator 38 is actuated by a connection from.

l and 5, the principle of operation is substan tially the same, only modified means are employed to automatically change thedirection of the vehicle. A gear box 56 is mounted between The operator places the vehicle at the dethe parallel frame members 5| and 52 through which a shaft 53 is rotatably mounted in a longitudinal direction in suitable bearings 54 and 55.

The bearings 54 and 55 are in turn rotatably I tween the bevel gears 56 and 51, a clutch in the "form of a coaxially slidable sleeve 60 is mounted for rotation with the shaft 53. At the opposite endsof said sleeve 60, a plurality of spaced pins BI and .62, preferably three on each, end, are coaxially disposed and are adapted to register with bar 42, shifting the lever 29' either to the righty corresponding apertures 63 and 64, respectively, in the vertical face of the bevel gears 56 and 51.

l The pins BI and 82 are just long enough so that when the sleeve 60 isin a position exactly midway between the two bevel gears-56 and- 51, the pins do not engage with the apertures of either of said bevel gears, but a slight displacement of the sleeve 68 either forward or rearward would autoan annular recess or groove 65 is provided and is slidably engaged with a semicircular jaw 86.

This member 66 is pivoted to the upper end of a short normally vertical arm 67. The lower end of said arm 6 is fixed to a cross shaft 88, which shaft is rotatably mounted in pivot bearings 69,

69 on opposite sides of the gear box 58; A pendulum arm 70 is pivoted to said shaft 68 and depends therebelow between the wheels of the Vehicle, to which is attached a weight ll. A

bracket member 12 is fixed to the shaft 58 and terminates a short distance therebelow, the bottom end being fanned out to form an arc upon which a grade scale 13 is inscribed. A reference mark 14 is inscribed on the pendulum arm 10. An arcuate'd slot 15 is provided in the member 12 in slidable engagement with a horizontal threaded stud lfi fixed to the pendulum arm l'l'l. A

clamping thumb nut 11 is in threaded engagement with the stud 16 to permit clamping of the member 12 to the pendulum arm '10 in any sejlected position within the limits of the slot 75.

A'pulley 18 is fixed to the shaft 53 exterior to the gearbox 58 andis connected to another pulley l9, fixed concentrically to the rear wheel of the vehicle,.by means of an endless strained belt- 80. Idler pulleys 8i, 8i are rotatably mounted on a horizontal cross shaft 82, said shaftbe'ing bracketed to the frame of the vehicle.

actuated by power from the shaft 53, substantially as shown.

The front wheel of the vehicle is pivoted in a manner similar to that in the embodiment first above described, except that the steering bar [8 is replaced by a pulleyllfi.

The shaft 59 extends upward, to which is fixed a pulley 81. This pulley 8'! and the pulley 86 are geared by means of a strained "endless belt 88. This belt 88 is I used either crossedor opened.

The operation of this modified form is similar to the embodiment first described, butv has an additional feature in that it is capable of being utilized. to lay out lines of constant inclination or declination other than zero. The device is first adjusted forthe declination or inclination desired by loosening the nut 11 and shifting the pendulum about its pivot 50 that the reference mark M is opposite the point on the scale indicating the desired declination or inclination. 'I'hecenter of the scale indicates a zero inclination for a line of constant elevation. The forward portion 1 of the scale designates degrees of inclination While the rearward portion of the scale designates degrees of declination. A differential change in elevation between the front part of the vehicle and the rear part effects a relative movement of the pendulum weight H and arm 'Hlwith respect to the frame of the vehicle by virtue of which the short arm. 61, to which the semicircular jaw 66 is fixed, actuates the sleeve 60 either forward or l rearward, as the case may be, to engage selectiveing a bicyclic vehicle, a pendulum suspended by 1y one of. the gears 56 and 51. The'bevel gear 58 isconsequently rotated either to the right or to the left depending upon which of the bevel gears 56 and 51 is engaged with-the sleeve member 60, and, in turn, rotates the shaft 59 and pulley 81. ,From this pulley 81 the motion is transmitted through the belt 88 to the pulley 86 thereby turning the frontwheel of the vehicle either to the right or to the left. When the vehicle is operating on a right-hand upward slopethe belt 88 should be open. If the vehicle is operating on a left-hand upward slope, the belt should be crossed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: l. A device of the character described comprisan arm pivoted tothe frame of said vehicle, said pivoted arm extending upward a short distance from its pivot, horizontal drag links independent-- ly, mountedbetween rollers on the frame of said vehicle, an open slot in each of said drag links for selective engagement with the extended portion of said pendulum arm, and guiding on said vehicle responsive to each of said drag links independently.

- 2. A device of the character described comprising a bicyclic vehicle, a pendulum suspended by an arm pivoted to the frame of said vehicle, said pivoted arm extending upward a short distance from its pivot, a horizontal shaft rotatably mounted above said extended arm, a vertical shaft mounted above said horizontal shaft, a pub ley fixed to the upper end of said vertical shaft, a

shaft, bevel gears rotatably mounted on said horizontal shaft in constant mesh with said firstmentioned bevel gear and on opposite sides theresaid horizontal shaft, means for selectively engaging said sleeve member with either of said lastmentioned bevel gears, an annular recess around said sleeve member between its ends, a semicircular jaw slidably engaged in the bottom of said re cess, said jaw member being pivoted to the extended arm of said pendulum, means for con stantly rotating said horizontal shaft when the vehicle is in motion, and means connected to said pulley for turning the guiding wheel of said vehicle.

3. A device of the character defined by claim 1, having means for adjusting the mechanism thereof to guide the vehicle along a selected inclination or declination. r

PEARL L. FOGLE,

bevel gear fixed to the lower end of said vertical 

